By Bill Current, President & Founder

Marijuana Officially Now a Schedule III Drug: What’s Next?

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April 23, 2026: Today, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order rescheduling “FDA-approved marijuana products” and “state-licensed” medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.

As a reminder, drugs classified as Schedule I include substances such as cocaine and heroin. Scheduled III substances include Tylenol with codeine. Marijuana, in all its various forms, is a mind-altering, mood-changing, addictive drug that impairs users’ cognitive and physical faculties… meaning, under the influence of marijuana users cannot think normally and cannot physically function normally. And normal is what employers hire people to be when functioning within the scope of their employment.

Acting AG Blanche’s order represents a major shift in U.S. drug policy. By reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug, the Trump Administration is declaring to parents, youth, employers and their employees, many of whom perform safety-sensitive job functions every day, that marijuana is somehow magically no longer a dangerous drug with only moderate potential for abuse with scientifically valid medical benefits compared to Schedule I and II substances.

Remember, yesterday, April 22, 2026, marijuana was none of those things. Yesterday marijuana had a high potential for abuse and was not considered to have any legitimate medical purposes according to the federal government. But now, today, it somehow does?

Interesting, the pro-marijuana people are celebrating cautiously because the Acting AG’s order does not accomplish everything they want. According to an article published by High Times[i] on April 23rd, the order does the following:

• “Formally acknowledges accepted medical use for FDA-approved marijuana products and state-licensed medical marijuana

• Gives state-licensed medical marijuana operators access to federal tax deductions previously blocked by 280E

• Eases barriers to federal research

• Creates expedited DEA registration for licensed medical operators

• Launches June 29 hearing process for full rescheduling of all marijuana”

However, the High Times article points out that the order does not accomplish everything the pro-marijuana folks want. For example, the order:

• “Does not legalize cannabis federally

• Does not reschedule recreational cannabis — it stays Schedule I

• Does not affect sentences of people incarcerated for cannabis

• Does not automatically change workplace drug testing policies

• Does not permit interstate commerce

• Does not create home grow rights

• Does not decriminalize cannabis or expunge records”

The list of things the Acting AG’s order does not do represents the legalization movement’s true wish list. They want to see marijuana federally legalized. The legalization of marijuana at the state level was merely a steppingstone, albeit an important steppingstone, to get to their real objective, full legalization, treating marijuana like alcohol, legal in virtually every way for adults.

The problem is marijuana is only like alcohol in the most negative possible ways—subject to abuse, highly addictive, extremely impairing, and dangerous. There’s just so much data to support the conclusion that marijuana is bad for society, for families, for workplaces, and for public transportation.

In my new book, What Every Employer Should Know About Marijuana, I present the facts about marijuana with fully cited sources. The book is not a referendum on legalization or meant to condemn marijuana users. It simply makes the case that employers should continue being vigilant when it comes to prohibiting employees from bringing marijuana to work, using marijuana while on the job, and being impaired by marijuana during their work shifts. It clearly shows how employees who use marijuana on their way to work, for example, are likely impaired by that use during the first three-plus hours of their workday, sometimes without even realizing the extent of their impairment. And if those individuals are performing safety-sensitive functions like driving a truck, flying an airplane, operating a forklift or making deliveries to customers’ homes, their marijuana-induced impairment could have catastrophic consequences, including, heaven forbid, the loss of someone’s life.

Workplace drug testing programs that include marijuana help deter employee drug use and identify people who need help. To ensure the safety of their employees, customers and the general public, employers must continue to have the right to test applicants and employees for marijuana, especially in safety-sensitive work environments like transportation. You’ll note the inclusion of workplace “drug testing policies” on the list of things the Acting AG’s order does not change according to High Times. Interesting they should mention it.

In addition to President Trump’s December 2025 executive order on the rescheduling of marijuana, which Acting AG Blanche has now moved forward, the president also recently signed an executive order directing the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to provide “Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers to appropriate psychedelic drugs that have received Breakthrough Therapy designations for treating serious mental illnesses, and that meet the criteria of the National Priority Voucher Program.”[ii]

Among other things, the psychedelics EO also: “… further directs the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Agency to establish a pathway for eligible patients to access investigational psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds, that are under FDA review and that have met basic safety requirements under President Trump’s landmark Right to Try Act.”[iii]

Additionally, “The Order requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to allocate $50 million through the Advanced Research Projects for Health (ARPA-H) program to match investments made by state governments to advance research into psychedelic programs for populations with serious mental illness.”[iv]

In a little over one year in his second non-consecutive term, President Trump has become the pro-illicit drug president. Regardless of whatever else he accomplishes during his presidency, including efforts to close the border and prevent Iran from developing nuclear capabilities, President Trump’s enduring legacy may very well be the legalization of illicit, dangerous, highly addictive drugs like marijuana, psychedelics and perhaps others (who knows which drugs are next on the pro-drug agenda). How do we know this? Because future administrations may undo his border policies or give Iran billions of dollars with which to fund their nuclear weapons program (we’ve seen past administrations do exactly those things), but no future president will be able to reign in the legalization of dangerous drugs. As the saying goes, you can’t un-ring a bell.

If you want to know what’s next, look at the High Times article’s list of the things that Acting AG Blanche’s order does not do. Those are the items on their wish list. That is what’s next. And then just for giggles replace the word marijuana or cannabis with the words cocaine, heroin, amphetamines or simply “any drug.”

Do you have questions? Contact the Current Consulting Group at: info@currentconsultinggroup.com.

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[i] Cannabis Has Been Rescheduled to Schedule III. Don’t Call It Legalization. High Times. April 23, 2026. https://hightimes.com/news/politics/cannabis-rescheduling-could-happen-today-dont-call-it-legalization/

[ii] Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump is Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness. White House. April 2026. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-is-accelerating-medical-treatments-for-serious-mental-illness/

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.